More than the shape of the earth, what's intrigued me is the nature of stars.
What are they?
Are they bright balls of fire, or something else?
If so, how do they keep burning for eons?
Is their fuel inexhaustible, or are they just so big that a day of their burning is equivalent to thousands of years of ours, or can they somehow sparkle and shine without burning at all?
Are they pinholes in the curtain of night?
Are they souls of ancient heroes and kings?
At this point in time, we can only speculate.
Are they much bigger than the earth, and very far away, or much smaller, and very close?
Are we spinning or are they spinning?
Perhaps we're both spinning.
Stars appear to be very close together.
While scientific extremists says this is merely a trick of light, that they're actually much further apart than they appear, I'm more inclined to think they're about as near together as they seem.
They also appear to be uniform in size, and uniform in distance from one another and the earth.
While scientific fundamentalists tell us this is also a trick, a trick of perspective, I'm more inclined to trust my eyes and Occam's razor than their wild speculations and unverifiable dogmas.
How did they form?
Did the intelligent designer(s) place them there, to light up the night sky?
Do we conjure or dream them into existence?
Are they unformed, always did exist, and presumably always will?
Are they the remnants of the earth's gravitational formation, or are we a remnant?
I guess we'll never know for sure, until the public has direct access to the heavens, and until we have the technology to reach out and touch the stars.